Mutagen

Day 360 - 8:01 AM - 38th Settlement, Muria Sacred Fortress, Mount Muria, Kudus Regency, Central Java, Indonesia

"Good morning, Luna."

"Good morning."

Polite greetings could be heard here and there as Luna passed by.

"Good morning."

Luna greeted back with a smile as she continued walking along the way.

The main force of the Moon Chasers had just returned yesterday after a several-day journey. However, while the others were resting and sleeping through the rest of the night, Luna stayed away and made a short patrol instead.

Luna's [Mutator] ability allowed her to reduce her bodily needs, if not remove them entirely. She could eat less, drink less, and sleep less without any problem as long as she could absorb enough of a specific light frequency.

To Luna, sleep was less of a necessity and more of a luxury. She would only sleep if she wanted to relax and only take short naps most of the time.

However, this time, it was a little different. Luna also wanted to sleep even a little after a long journey. However, the conversation with Mark last night gave her many things to ponder. In the end, she decided to take a two-hour patrol around the walls and the settlement while mulling over her thoughts.

Mark's comments last night were straight off the truth. They encountered many dangers before. However, Luna and her friends were saved most of the time due to Thirteenth's "indirect" instructions. The Moon Chasers were a strong group despite their small number. They could contend against groups twice their size. However, from Mark's words, their true potential remained untapped.

Luna remembered the time she was consumed by anger. It was not like she could remember everything, but she could recall parts of it during the start and the end. That unknown power Luna displayed at that time, she wanted to know where it came from and how to harness it.

Aside from Mark's comments, the other reason that made Luna sleepless was that there was now a hundred percent chance for her niece to wake up. Finally, the poor girl could have the opportunity to start a new life. Of course, they still had to deal with her possible trauma.

Returning from the patrol, Luna passed by the unfinished bunker. She heard faint sounds coming from the door, which made her curious. As Luna approached the door, she realized it was the sound of something ripping through the air at fast speeds.

Luna peeked at the slightly opened door. The main doors of the bunker were left open most of the time. It was to allow easy access in times of emergency. This also allowed Luna to peek through the door undetected this time.

There, Luna saw a familiar figure. It was the swordswoman of Mark's group. Luna remembered she was a Chinese woman named Feng Zhiruo.

Luna's thoughts were suddenly interrupted as she saw Feng Zhiruo practice her swordsmanship.

It was a beautiful routine where the blade of Feng Zhiruo's sword left trails of light as it danced around.

In the last wave, Feng Zhiro extended her sword forward, causing a strong gust of wind to blow against the bunker walls. As she retracted her arm, she turned to the door.

"Does Miss Luna need something?"

Feng Zhiruo asked her uninvited audience.

Luna stopped hiding and entered through the door, looking a little embarrassed.

"I'm just passing by and heard the sounds from your sword. I don't know much about swordsmanship, but I think your routine looked beautiful. I can't help but watch you."

Luna said, praising what she saw.

Feng Zhiruo smiled, pleased with Luna's honest opinion. And her smile looked beautiful.

When Feng Zhiruo was captured by Mark, her appearance and physique were just a little above average despite being a Cultivator. She was among the lower disciples, after all. Furthermore, she was just an errand girl who barely received any teachings from the elder.

But due to Mark's help, the influence of the Night Everred Pure Spirit Tree's energy, Mutagen, and a suitable environment, Feng Zhiruo grew far from what she was before.

After all the improvements, Feng Zhiruo's skin had a healthy whitish color, and her physique had improved greatly. In all of the people around Mark, her beauty could be ranked third, only below Mei and Illia.

Feng Zhiruo's smile just now was like a blossoming lotus in Luna's eyes.

On the other hand, Feng Zhiruo was observing Luna. She knew that Mark was a candidate under Thirteenth and Luna was the same. And the reason Mark went to this place was to help Luna.

Then, Feng Zhiruo would offer her help, just like how Mark helped her improve her swordsmanship.

"Do you want to learn?"

Feng Zhiruo asked Luna.

Luna was surprised by the sudden offer. However, there was no need for her to think.

"Can you teach me?"

Luna asked in return.

"If Boss is okay with it, I can teach you some moves."

Feng Zhiruo nodded and answered. It was not like Mark would not allow this, but they still needed to ask permission properly.

At this time, the door to one of the rooms opened. It was Mei. It seemed she had just woken up.

"Good morning."

Feng Zhiruo greeted first. Her status was below Mei's. It was just right for her to greet first.

"Good morning."

Luna also greeted Mei.

"Good morning."

Mei greeted back while covering her cute yawn.

Luna watched Mei. It was absurd that Mei looked beautiful no matter what her state was. Most women would look horrendous when waking up, especially because of their catastrophic bed hair. However, that was not clearly the case for Mei.

The realization made Luna a little dejected. Her appearance was also above average, and many people praised her beauty. However, in front of Mei and Feng Zhiruo, she might as well call herself average.

"Is Boss still sleeping?"

Feng Zhiruo asked Mei. After knowing Mark for a few months, she knew he barely slept at all. If Mei was already awake, he should also woke up.

"Gege isn't here," Mei replied with a shake of her head. "He probably went out earlier while we were sleeping."

"He went out unannounced again, huh."

Feng Zhiruo said, already used to Mark's sudden disappearances.

Luna listened to the two and was a little surprised that Mark went out instead of resting.

But then, Luna saw Mei staring blankly at the wall facing east.

"Gege should be straight east," Mei said as she turned to Luna. "Probably at your HQ."

Luna was surprised. Mei could actually pinpoint Mark's location out of nowhere. But the more shocking thing was Mark was at their headquarters for some reason.

"Are you two going look for Gege?" Mei asked. "Wait a bit. I'm coming too. I'll just change clothes."

Soon, the three women came out of the bunker. Most people they passed by could not help but look in their direction. No matter what era it was, beauty begets attention.

The three arrived outside the Moon Chaser's headquarters. It was the same building where they had the conversation just a few hours prior.

Luna wondered where Mark was. It was when she realized the garage door was slightly open. She remembered Edge would likely be there, tinkering with his broken vehicle.

It made Luna remember the past. Unlike the rest of their group, Edge was not a simple weeb. He was a real Otaku who was a little obsessed with cars and stuff about vehicles. Edge's dream was to build his own car, and he was working a few jobs while in college to accumulate funds for his dream.

"If I finish building my car, I'll take you all for a ride."

That was the promise Edge told everyone in their Cosplay Group.

Unfortunately, that dream fell through when the apocalypse came. And to make it worse, the parts Edge painstakingly accumulated over several years were stolen from their house when he arrived there.

Even so, Edge did not stop. The broken vehicle inside the garage was something Edge was slowly building using parts he gathered when they were going out.

It was one of the qualities the Moon Chasers liked about Edge. He was not someone to give up on his dreams, even at the end of the world.

"Wow... Amazing..."

Suddenly, Luna's ears picked up some sounds coming from the garage. She recognized it was Edge's voice. However, she was confused as to what would make Edge say those words in a rather enthusiastic tone.

At this time, Mei looked at Feng Zhiruo and Luna.

"Gege is inside the garage."

Those words made Luna realize that Edge was not alone in the garage. He was with Mark.

However, what were they doing?

Curious, Luna sped up her steps and peeked through the garage door.

Then, Luna's eyes widened.

Luna saw the familiar figure of the young maid of Mark's group. What made her feel incredulous was the fact that she could see the topless back of the girl facing her. In front of the girl, she could see Mark's silhouette doing something on her chest while Edge stood behind Mark, enthusiastically watching.

Without further ado, Luna stormed in. She could not care much about what Mark was doing, although it made her lose some respect for him. What angered Luna the most was the fact that Edge was joining in the scandalous act.

"Ouch! Ouch! Don't pull my ears!"

Edge complained as his left ear was pulled away suddenly by Luna.

"What the hell are you two doing? How can you two do this to a little girl..."

Luna was angry, speaking in a rather loud voice, especially at Edge. However, she turned to Mark mid-sentence, and the sight before her eyes made her words trail off. Her eyes widened in shock.

"Done with the comedy skit?"

Mark asked Luna, snapping her out of stupor.

Luna's face began to turn red as she realized how impure her thoughts were. Still, who would expect this?

Looking at the maid girl's chest, Luna could not believe what she was seeing.

The maid girl was not human! Luna could see the open compartment on the girl's chest and the absurd machinery inside it.

Mei and Feng Zhiruo also entered the garage. They looked at Luna with smiles while holding back their giggles. Their reactions made Luna turn redder.

Turning away from Luna, Mei asked Mark.

"Is something wrong with Hildr?"

Mark would do some maintenance on the three golems from time to time. However, Mark doing maintenance on Brynhildr at this time was rather untimely.

"Yeah." 

Mark replied. He then carefully pulled something long out of Brynhildr's chest.

Everyone watched as Mari pulled a foot-long vine out of Brynhidr's chest. They looked at the vine in Mark's hand. It was thin, and its leaves looked pretty new.

However, a few seconds after Mark pulled its root off Brynhildr's circuits, it began to shrivel up and died.

"What in the world is that?"

Feng Zhiruo voiced out. It was the first time she saw something like this.

"It's probably just a normal vine seed that got into Hildr's system while we were in the forest," Mark said as he ripped off the dead vine's still intact cotyledon. "It might have mutated when it began growing after getting in contact with Hildr's circuits."

Mark looked at the plant closely. He knew it was a plant variant that mutated into something that would grow using magical energy instead of nutrients in the soil.

It was both a curious and dangerous specimen.

If this plant was left to grow for too long, it might have taken over Brynhildr's body and caused irreparable damage. Luckily, Brynhildr noticed something was wrong with her body for Mark to immediately eliminate the cause.

Mark then turned to Mei and Feng Zhiruo.

"I think we should gather Cavall and Inaba. Also all our equipment. I'll spend the morning doing maintenance just in case there are more of this vine."

Mei and Feng Zhiruo nodded in agreement. There would be nothing worse than their equipment breaking at the wrong time because of a vine.

With this, Mark established his schedule for the rest of the morning.

But before everything else, Edge's voice echoed as he asked Luna.

"Can you let go of my ear now?"